Roving Reports by Doug P: 2018-3 Texas to New Mexico and Arizona

Sunday, January 21, 2018

2018-3 Texas to New Mexico and Arizona

2018-3

many rest stops along the way

western skies, wide open spaces
over 2063 miles of traveling

Texas

New Mexico

Arizona, Tucson

Badu city park

Campground: Badu park, Llano Tx. $20 city park. Full hookups. Parking lot style

Campground: The Landing Rv Park, Iraan Tx. A city park, $15 full hookups, nice spacious sites with concrete borders defining each site. Many sites currently reserved for workers in the oil fields, wind farms and a new solar installation going in.

Campground: Dalmonts Rv and Trailer Court, Las Cruces NM. $20 (rates went up to $25 but manager was kind enough to give me the old rate). Full hookups 50 amp, water pipes frozen.

Small little in town park.

Desert Diamond Casino

Campground: Desert Diamond Casino. Parking lot, free dry camping spot. Nice casino but not much for food, except the buffet.

Campground: Gilbert Ray county park. Tucson. 1 week limit, no reservations. $20.00, 30 amp electric, water and dump station available. Campsites are tight, but in the center of the Saguaro National Park, awesome location.

Gilbert Ray Campground

Distance traveled: 202 miles

Crossing Texas, and more Texas and more Texas....

The drive along hwy 29 and 190 was pleasant. Light traffic through rugged county. Large cattle ranches, sheep and a few goat ranches as well. I particularly like going over small hills or rises because just as I get to the top of the hill, I’m able to see the vast western landscape as far as the horizon off in the distance. Patches of cedar forests, then scrubby dry dead looking ironwood and mesquite trees.

I saw a number of deer crossing the road which I immediately slowed down for. If you see one there are bound to be more. The first instance 5 deer came dashing across the road. Each one, hidden from view and spaced out so that if I hadn’t slowed down, I would surely have hit one of them. Later a couple more showing off their agility to leap gracefully to the other side of the road and over the fences.

Even saw a couple of cotton farms along this back roads stretch of what to anyone would look to be barren inhospitable land. The small towns in between are spaced at great distances and it was a reminder to me to insure I keep the fuel tanks filled as I pass through these small rural towns.

As I got closer to Iraan Tx (named after Ira and Ann) I suddenly entered messa and butte country. Awesome in there size and scale as I find myself ascending one of the messa’s before arriving in the dusty town. The town has three Rv city parks scattered around town and except for the possibility of oil/windfarm or solar workers coming into the area of work, you’ll probably find a spot easily. This area once was considered the largest oil field in the world and is still active today.

a Texas rest stop, overnight parking permitted
felt bad at having not composed the picture well
freezing temps had something to do with that.

Distance Traveled: 164 miles

Winter weather entering New Mexico

Las Cruces NM

Van Horn Texas to Las Cruces New Mexico. As you may know, I don’t usually travel such great distances in a short amount of time. But traveling from Florida out to Arizona for the winter has placed me in the true travel mode. The weather has not been great as most of the country is now in a deep freeze. It sure has been for me on the road. Haven’t been able to hook up to water for the past week as the campground pipes are frozen solid as well as what water remained in my hoses.

Van Horn

Van Horn, side street

Van Horn, church burned down, interesting gate

modern picnic shelter, Texas

As a full time Rv-er we learn to put up with these inconveniences, filling our holding tanks with enough water for use onboard and keeping the “basement” heated at night to prevent freezing of pipes and holding tanks.

With the cold weather I haven’t done any exploring or good picture taking. Having only taken a few quick pictures which I regret because I didn’t compose the shot as I normally would. Telephone poles, street signs, wires getting in the way and not taking enough time to go around and get a better shot.

Although I could be in Tucson already, I’m delaying my entry due to weather and limited places to stay until my campsite opens up Feb 1st. My goal was to dry camp for a week or so, but with the freezing weather, I’m putting that off for now.

New Mexico images

tumble weeds

Distance Traveled: 278 miles

Arriving in Arizona

There are some great stops along the way, but I decided to push on through and get to my dry camping spot (a stay of two nights) at the Desert Diamond Casino. I’ll also be meeting up with Lois Ann and Pete friends I met while leading the Travel Club at Desert Trails Rv Park. And I met up with them this past summer in Maine.

Desert Diamonds Casino and events center

Desert Diamonds, free camping

Solar Panel Update: Occasionally I like to give updates on using my solar panels. Pete reminded me that when using the inverter for a/c power, to turn the fridge over to gas only, so it doesn’t use up all the a/c power from the batteries. I’ve added a note next to the solar controller panel as a reminder.

Also I was concerned as to how well of a charge I’d have in cold weather, as I would need the batteries to run the fan on the propane furnace. As it turns out, batteries (and I have an expensive set of 4) don’t like below freezing. Well neither do I. As it turns out, the battery monitor will not permit charging of the batteries if the temperature gets below freezing or there abouts. So it seems that the batteries are of minimal use if I were ever to boondock/dry camp in really cold weather. Something to think about and prepare for.

I have one more night at the casino parking lot, with temperatures getting down to 34 tonight, we’ll see how well it does just above the freezing mark. Hopefully they’ll be able to charge up during the daylight hours for use this evening.

The batteries charged up fully even with overcast skies and moderate daytime temperatures. I was able to turn on the furnace a couple of times throughout the night, but couldn’t leave it running all night, as the batteries would not be able to maintain. For those not familiar with a furnace in an Rv, they run on propane fuel, but need d/c power to run the blower fan which take a fair amount of battery draining power.

Looks like they would work fine down in the 50’s and would be able to leave the furnace to run on and off throughout the night.

Distance traveled: 30 miles

to Tucson AZ

Arrived at one of my first locations while spending the next two months in Tucson.

Gilbert Ray campground, view from my campsite

Coyote Pause Cafe and shops

Gilbert Ray campground

Have a super great day wherever the trail leads you.

No comments:

Favorite Camping Resource Books

Camping on a Shoestring, 3rd Eastern Edition by Don Wright (Great list of free and cheap campgrounds eastcoast, lists many city and county park/campgrounds)
Camping with the Corps of Engineers by S.L. Hinkle (a complete guide to campgrounds owned and operated by the US Army Corps)
Coleman, National Forest Campground & Recreation Directory (A detailed list of all the campgrounds in National Forests)
Don Wright's Guide to Free Campgrounds, Western Edition (Great list of free and cheap campgrounds, lists many city and county park/campgrounds)
GOOGLE SEARCH (Don't forget to use the Internet to search: use (city name, campgound, camping for your search)
Military Travel Guide USA (Lists all the Military campgrounds for DoD and retired military)
Passport America book (lists all the half price campgrounds)
RV Camping in State Parks, D.J Davins (A listing of all state parks)

Camping Club Info:

CAMPING CLUBS:

Joining the various camping clubs can be a great help. Each makes their own mark on camping and building communities within the camping world.

Many of the camping clubs I've listed are 1/2 off clubs. By joining, you get 1/2 off the camping rate for one night, a week and some are unlimited stays at their campgrounds.

Also, most everyone who plans on camping for part of the year or is thinking about full-timing get either the Motor Home or Trailer Life magazine. Both offer tons of helpful hints and trips to take throughout the year. Good Sam’s has Highways magazine which you get free with your membership.

I joined a number of clubs and magazines the first couple of years before I became a full timer, just to get an idea of what the community was like out there. After a couple of years, I’ve kept my favorites and dropped the rest. Listed in no particular order.

TIP: Always call ahead and inform them you are a member of a particular CLUB. Sometimes campgrounds drop out or change their policy. It's always good to call ahead and confirm they are still members in the club you've joined.

Escapees: It’s one of the best communities of Rv’ers you’ll ever find. With great support groups and individual clubs with just about every interest and hobby a person could think of. They own a number of campgrounds that you can get really great rates for camping and they provide a 10-15% discount at other campgrounds throughout the country.

http://escapees.com/index2.asp Membership: $60.00 + $10 enrollment fee.

Good Sam’s Is good, but personally I haven’t had much need for them, and their 10% off campground fees has not been much of an incentive. They do have lots of Rally’s and caravans if you have the inclination and are willing to pay for the trips. The trips can be very pricey.

https://www.goodsamclub.com/Membership: $29.95

Passport America: My favorite club!!!!!!!!

It’s a 50% off camping club that gets you 50% off the campgrounds that have signed up with Passport America, (1,800+ campgrounds) good online web site and book for browsing campsites.

If you join, please let them know your were recommended by:

D Palosaari C-271417

http://www.passport-America.com/main/default.asp

Membership: $44.00

Happy Campers: Another 50% off camping club and mirrors Passport America with perhaps a few different campgrounds than what Passport has. Their camp book is small and doesn't have good maps for directions.

http://www.camphalfprice.com/Membership: $49.95

Camping Club USA: recently merged with Passport America

Recreation USA:

I found this club on the Internet and it advertises that all of it’s campgrounds go for $10.00 a night. They also have a half/off section as well. I have been a member for two years, and though I've stayed at a couple of campgrounds on their list, many are no longer available or haven't heard of Rec. USA and I end up not being able to use the camping club discount. Always call ahead on this one to confirm that they are still participating. I've met the owners of the club and they are nice, it's just that they don't seem to keep up with the campgrounds who are supposed to be participating.

http://www.campingandcampgrounds.com/member_updates.html Membership: $44.00 per year.

Brief History

I grew up in the Copper Country's Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I started working from age 13 at the Copperama during the summer as a dishwasher. I remember being so small that I had to stand on two wooden pepsi crates to put the dishes in the dishwasher. After highschool, I attended Suomi College (a Finish oriented college) renamed to Finlandia University a couple years ago.

I had a chance when I was around 20 to travel to Florida with a co-worker from the Copperama (after our usual layoff in the fall) and upon arriving in Fla, I sent a letter home the second day and said, "I'm Staying". My Mom wrote back and said, "Stay, it's the best decision you made in your life.... and when you get settled, we'll come visit".

It worked out well, having moved from one peninsula in the U.P. to Florida, another peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. I love water.

Mom gave very little advice, but reminded me that no one would ever be able to take care of me after I left home, that I could not come back home after I left (except for a weeks vacation), and that I should never ask for a loan, because they didn't have the money.

What she did give me though, was some advice. And that was to look at the years my Dad struggled with making a living. Getting layed off from his construction work every winter until he finally got a job with the State of Mich. at MTU as a maintenance worker. Life was good after that.

So when I got to Florida, I got the hint and after a short period of working at 7-11 and a couple other small jobs, I started to apply for any Gov. job. City, County, State and Federal.

I finally got a job with the Navy starting out as a GS-2 temporary part time not to exceed 90 days putting cans of beans on the shelves at the commissary. My foot was in the door and a career that eventually spanned 31 years ending up as a Logistics Manager.

my desire to travel was realized after years of camping and enjoying the great outdoors. I got started camping just to save money and it became a lifelong source of joy.

Hint to those just starting out in the working world: Every job has it's fringe benefits, some are written down, some aren't. Learn what they are and take advantage of them.

Example: If I got on committees that required travel, I could travel at the Goverments expense. Plus, I could extend my stay after the work as vacation. The Gov. paid my way out and back for my job and for my vacation!

Dreams do come true. Stay focused and keep working on them and one day, yours will come true too.

Roving Reports by Doug P